


these pages are yours

by sugarbug



Series: the library's keeper [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Ambiguity, Far Future, M/M, abandoned library
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:08:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22662232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarbug/pseuds/sugarbug
Summary: kei is enthralled by the beauty of the library and the charm of its keeper.
Relationships: Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Series: the library's keeper [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1630363
Comments: 6
Kudos: 35





	these pages are yours

**Author's Note:**

> a sequel to to find words for what we already know. not absolutely necessary to read that first, but it sets up the scene.

“How long have you been here?”

Kei watches as the sky turns a blurry orange, shades of pink creeping in when the orange runs out.

The stranger’s eyebrows furrow. 

“A few months? Maybe a few years.” He turns to look at Kei. “I don’t keep track.”

“What’s your name?” Kei asks. He feels it fruitless to press further on the previous question.

The stranger smiles, stretching his arms over his head before letting out a content sigh and standing up. He motions for Kei to follow.

“Let’s go to a different part of the library.”

* * *

“This is one of my favorite rooms.”

The stranger leads them to a room similar to the balcony, a few floors higher and down a narrow hallway. It has a panel of windows on the far side of the room, and Kei delights in the fact that they still have an excellent view of the horizon. The sun is just a sliver now, the orange heeding to rich violets and indigos that blend with the streaks of pink.

The room itself isn’t as ornate as some of the other reading rooms, but Kei can understand why the stranger is so charmed by it. A modest chandelier hangs in the middle of the room. It isn’t turned on, but he had watched the stranger eye the light switch as they walked in. Perhaps after the sun has fully set, he’ll turn it on.

The room is furnished with wooden tables and chairs. A few golden and emerald velvet armchairs rest near an unlit fireplace. The room is warm and cozy enough without a fire burning though, Kei thinks.

The ceilings are high enough to make room for balconies where more chairs and tables sit, undoubtedly collecting dust. Spiral staircases lead up to the balconies, and the wood creaks when the stranger takes a seat on the bottom step.

“Like it?”

“It’s nice.”

Kei feels a bit uncomfortable in the silence that falls. The stranger watches him carefully, immune to the awkward tension that Kei is experiencing. Kei clears his throat, turning to look out the window again.

“What are you doing here?” the stranger finally asks.

“Just visiting. I like books.” 

What an absolutely lame thing to say. The library gods are clearly not on his side today.

The stranger cracks a smile, clearly reveling in the brainless answer.

“Well, you’ve definitely come to the right place.”

“What are _you_ doing here?” Kei asks back.

“Oh, you know,” The stranger pulls at a piece of hair that hangs by his chin. The final traces of the sunset seep in through the window, lighting up the stranger’s eyes and making the freckles on his cheeks look more like glitter. He finally looks up to meet Kei’s eyes, grinning a little too wildly, “Just visiting. I like books.”

* * *

“What do you think?”

They had crossed an expansive bridge and trekked up numerous staircases to reach the next part of the library. 

It is obvious the stranger is eager to show it to Kei, eyes giddy as he reaches for the door. He yanks the door open and steps forward, Kei following behind hesitantly. A gentle breeze tosses his bangs around, and the evening sky stretches out before him. 

Books are stacked in piles everywhere, mimicking the appearance of the balcony where Kei had first met the stranger. The stranger walks towards the edge, leaning against the railings that wrapped around the rooftop. The moon is hanging low, stars twinkling over the library, which appeared to go on endlessly. Kei wonders how long it would take to see everything it had to offer.

“It’s amazing,” Kei says simply, because it is. The library is unlike anything he had ever seen, and the stranger knew all of its secrets.

_I’m the library’s keeper._

“Be honest with me, wh—” The stranger cuts Kei off before he can continue his sentence.

“I wish you had visited sooner.” The look on the stranger’s face is dreamy, and there’s something about his expression that makes Kei feel as though he knows more than he’s letting on.

“Why?” Kei’s voice cracks on the word.

“Because I miss you, silly.” The stranger laughs, and there’s something so eerily _familiar_ about the sound. Kei tries to wrap his head around the answer, tries to focus on the meaning instead of the stranger’s laugh and the odd feelings it gives him.

“We’ve only just met,” Kei says finally, eyebrows pulling together enough to make his forehead crease.

The stranger hums, his wide smile shrinking and softening.

“We have, haven’t we?”

“What did you mean, when you said you were the library’s keeper?” Kei tries for a different question. The stranger doesn’t cut him off this time.

“I watch over it.” The stranger looks out across the horizon, the moonlight casting him in an ethereal glow. Kei thinks about the three moons on his home planet, but the memory suddenly feels foreign and not his own. “I read all the books.”

He turns, fixing Kei with a smile. “I give tours to nice strangers passing through.”

“I’m not that nice,” Kei says. He thinks about everything he’s been running from for the past two years. Everything has been a blur. He goes to sleep every night, and his dreams are filled with sirens blaring, muggy rooms, the taste of iron in his mouth.

The stranger laughs again, and Kei feels his stomach turn.

“You say that every time.” The stranger scrunches his nose up, eyes twinkling. “When will you get past that?”

Kei blinks, and for a split second he’s somewhere else. 

The air around him hums with the summer song of cicadas. Grass tickles his ears, and there’s a warm shoulder pressed against his own. It’s sticky outside, and his mouth tastes of watermelon. The body beside him laughs at something, and Kei gasps because—

Kei opens his eyes, and his brain grows foggy. He frowns, trying to rope in the faint memory that had resurfaced in the back of his mind when he’d closed his eyes, but it escapes him more and more quickly the harder he tries to hold onto it.

“This is always the worst part.” The stranger is looking at him again with knowing eyes, and Kei is upset because he feels like he’s missing something huge, something that should be right in front of him. 

He must see the frustration on Kei’s face because he steers the conversation in a different direction. He points towards the entrance of the building, which has to be at least a mile away at this point. “That’s your ship down there, right?”

Kei nods numbly.

“I like the colors.”

The ship is a shiny teal with orange and yellow accents. Kei’s managed to keep it in pretty nice condition, despite his admittedly wreckless expeditions the past few years.

“Hey, do you still have the book I gave you?” The stranger leans his chin against his palm.

Kei does. It’s sitting in his cabin, tucked in the corner of a miniature bookshelf. The ship isn’t large enough to accomodate most of his belongings, but he has a small collection of books and journals stowed away for sleepless nights.

The book in question is _The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology In Greek And Roman Times._ It's worn from so many reads, but Kei can never bring himself to get a new copy. He doesn’t even know where he would _find_ a new copy.

“Yes,” Kei snorts. The ghost of a smile is on his lips as he tilts his head towards the stranger, speaking before he can process the words, “You ask that every time.”

His throat closes up at the sound of his own voice, and he frowns in confusion. What did he just say? And why had it felt so natural?

He tries to think about the book, tries to latch on to the first time he remembers reading it, but he’s coming up blank.

“We can talk about it next time, okay?”

“What?” Kei ask

He’s shaking a little because he’s confused, and it’s suddenly becoming harder and harder to keep his eyes open. He wonders if he’ll go back to the summer day he’d briefly recalled if his eyes fall shut for good.

“We can talk about it next time,” the stranger repeats. His hands are on Kei’s shoulders now, his eyes soft, his smile sad.

“The book?” Kei asks, still dazed, still wondering why Tadashi is being so weir—

_Tadashi._

Kei feels a million things at once. The warmth of the sun on his back, his glasses slipping down his nose, the weight of Tadashi’s arm slung around his shoulder as his laugh echoes around them both.

“The book.” Tadashi laughs again, but it’s right in front of him and not in a hazy flash of a memory. He sighs, but the smile he falls into is resolute. “I miss you. I can’t wait to see you again.”

“But I’m not going anywhere.” Kei frowns harder, his eyelids growing heavier and heavier.

“Of course you’re not.” Tadashi smiles, but Kei misses it. 

His eyes have fallen shut.

* * *

Kei opens his eyes, gasping.

He can’t shake the feeling that he had been having a strange dream. Wisps of a shimmering sunset float through his mind, a relentless smile teasing him somewhere amidst it all.

His body aches, sore from falling asleep on the floor. _Again._ He picks up the book he’d fallen asleep reading. Something his favorite library volunteer had recommended. He only has a few pages left. He figures he can finish it on the bus ride to the library, intent on leaving with a stack of fresh books to sift through.

Summer break should be a time to relax, free from the 40-page readings his professors loved to assign. Kei can’t keep his nose out of a book though, so he’s fallen into the habit of lurking at his community library every other day during his summer vacation.

He pulls himself off the floor, cracking his joints and staring out the window. His bike leans against a tree, the teal body balancing precariously against the thin trunk. The sun is already out, and a choir of birds sing, urging him to get out and enjoy the weather.

Yeah, Kei thinks. Today’s a perfect day to visit the library.

**Author's Note:**

> i got too attached to this idea after writing the first drabble.... if you haven't read that, it's a prequel to this one called to find words for what we already know. this was finished at 3 am and is unedited, so . h.
> 
> anyways, i kept catching myself falling into present tense with this, so it was kind of an exercise in writing in that as opposed to past, which is what i feel most comfortable writing in.
> 
> i think this will have one more installment, but UHhhhh Yeah.


End file.
